On to the Cup! No, silly, not Stanley; I mean the styrofoam cup at Dunkin' Donuts. 

That's about all the Rangers 4-0 – actually much closer – victory over an injured Sabres team that's hell bent toward missing the playoffs for a 15th straight year, is worth. 

A cheap joke.

Winning a game at KeyBank Center is nothing to crow about but, then again, two points is two points.

"The best thing about it," says The Old Scout, "are the Rangers' scorers. Each of them could use the confidence boost."

That's certainly true of Lafrenière although he usually enjoys a fruitful first quarter season before moving to Slumberland. 

But getting a goal out of Carson Soucy is like getting a freebie for the World Series. As for the other Lamplighters – Adam Fox and J.T. Miller – that's what they're getting paid for; right?

What matters is that the bumbling Buffalos fired 36 shots at Igor Shesterkin who produced his 22d career shutout and nobody exited the arena saying he was lucky.

Hey, after two games, Shesty has allowed one goal which allows us to call him "The Human Vacuum Cleaner." (Okay, okay, it only allows The Maven to call him that.)

The not-so-good-news was Vinnie Trocheck's exit with a still yet undefined injury. 

It's Not Time For Excuses Regarding The Rangers Right Now Six Blueshirt things I don't qant to hear about:

Even better news is that the former theme: WIN A GAME – OR BUST has been deleted and once again it is as it should be: STANLEY CUP OR BUST!

At least until tomorrow night against the sizzling hot (2-0) Penguins in Pittsburgh!